>> this is "bbc world news." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and

capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news." click this is is bbc world news america. reporting from washington, and katty kay. chemical inspectors in syria say their first deadline has been met, but they still have to destroy the stock. calls for justice in kenya after a man accused of raping a teenager was left off with light punishment. radioactivey, the element sore.

scientists are trying to figure out if it could be the nuclear fuel of the future. welcome to our viewers on public television in america and elsewhere around the globe. syria's declared chemical weapons facilities have been destroyed. that was the word from international inspectors. it comes before the deadline set by the united states and russia. inspectors will now turn their attention to the next target, and agreed land of distraction of more than one thousand tons of chemical weapons. weeks now, special inspectors of the opcw have been chemicalsyria's weapons factory. they have tagged and sealed them

so that no more can be made. the syrian government did much of the actual destruction. it simply meant smashing up containers and pipework. president assad delivered on his commitments under intense pressure. now they have met their first deadline. >> they are not now in the position to conduct any further production or mixing of chemical as far as the disclosed capabilities are concerned. >> in the midst of the civil war there, what remains to be done? what has been achieved? only been 21 of 23 chemical sites. middle ofm are in the the war. but they're satisfied that all, what didn't have been destroyed there. or they have to destroy

remove from syria all existing stockpiles of chemical weapons by the middle of next year. claimingovernment is it is a victory, strengthening assad's hand against the rebels. westaway so the -- saw the negatively and would change that syriaand know was and is and will always be a constructive partner in international affairs. >> at the brutal reality in syria remains that a civil war -- remains a civil war in which conventional ovens are still killing massive amounts of people. >> that is the view from damascus. i spoke to our chief correspondent a short time ago. >> you spoke to the head of the chemical weapons missions today.

how confident are they in what they have done so far? >> very confident in their field operations. he did not underestimate the challenging environment they were working within, calling it unprecedented to work at this speed in the midst of the conflict. and don't forget many of these men and women spent time in laboratories and not in the field. but he was very confident. his wording was very careful. syriad, according to what has declared, we have verified that they have destroyed all of the chemical weapons equipment. but i said to them that what if they did not declare everything? process for that and it will be investigated. they wanted to be as thorough as

possible. they have until 2014, the middle of, to destroy the arsenal. he is confident he will meet that deadline and the next one, too. why do you think president even as far as he has gone along so far? don't think he had a choice. i talked to a lot of diplomats about this. , a former syrian official theor official, said it was threat of an existential threat of the united states that we all expected would happen against syria. tehran and moscow said, you have no choice, president assad.

either you destroy this arsenal or you face the consequences. it will threaten the future of your regime. and therefore, he complied. the full story has not been told. when he talked to the deputy said andinister, he others said, too, that the discussions on this process have been going on for some time, for more than a year. said it was not the outcome he would have wished for, but that they were ready. >> thank you very much. for more on the task that the syrian inspectors now face, i spoke a short time ago with someone who said -- with gary. it is under their control. to destroy the

equipment, but harder the chemical weapons themselves. >> the syrians have agreed that the precursors, which is the vast bulk of the remaining removed from be syria and destroyed at leisure outside the country. the opcw, to do that will have to define a country willing to host that destruction. and so far, they have approached norway, which said it is not able to do it. there is a question about finding another country willing to do so. the second is the challenge of the instruction of the bombs and rockets and so forth that are actually filled with mixed chemical weapons. that for present a safety hazard. it can be done in-country. there are ways to do it, but it will have to be carefully monitored so that the people who are a part of that process are not killed or injured. >> at the end of the kuwait war, the weapons inspectors destroyed

iraqi chemical weapons out in the middle of the desert. is that an option? >> it is an option, but not the most desirable way to do it. but i think it is an option. people are working on a number of different techniques. i understand the russians are likely to take a large role in the destruction of the actual chemical muses -- chemical munitions. and the russians have long experience, given the fact that they are in the process of destroying their own chemical weapons arsenal. haso you think that assad decided to cooperate largely because he is winning this civil war with conventional weapons now? that he felt he had no choice but to go along with the agreement as a way to avoid a u.s. military attack. and he may very well cut delay that as long as the distraction process is taking place -- this

distraction process is taking place, that may constrain the u.s. and others for fear that it would jeopardize the completion of the chemical weapons of elimination. >> do you think he might have concerns, though, about what the international community could learn from this weapons destruction program? for example, the providence of the chemical weapons that we used on the mac is -- on the massacre in august. >> i don't think so. i doubt that is a real risk. the bigger risk for him is that once the chemical weapons have been destroyed, would that lead to an increase in outside assistance to the opposition? obviouslyobama is hoping to avoid that. there is so much frustration in the region in saudi, turkey, jordan, and other places, people who want to step up support and

military assistance and training to the opposition, and who fear that assad may actually hang on and win this war. in which case if he wanted to, he could reconstitute his chemical weapons. >> thank you so much. we are getting reports of another developing story inside syria tonight. thatofficials tell the bbc israeli warplanes have attacked a military target around a port city that is believed to be russian missiles delivered to syria. angry petitioners handed a petition to police in kenya wanting justice for a 16-year- old girl that was raped and then thrown unconscious into a latrine pit. the punishment for three of the men is prompting real outrage. they were simply order to cut some grass.

here is this exclusive report. >> she is known to the world as lee. her story of being gang raped has infuriated many. she had sustained him -- unimaginable psychological and physical damage. she has undergone surgery and there are more to come. her mother said this is the worst experience she has ever endured and she hopes she will recover. but she has just one plea. >> i wanted the suspects to be arrested and justice to be done. up to now, no one has been arrested. i hear some of them have gone into hiding. >> she said the families of some of the suspects have threatened her. one offered to tell, but changed his mind. >> when my husband went to his house to get the help yet offered, the man started

insulting my has-been and calling him names. he said it was not only his son that assaulted our daughter and that we should go to the other families for help. [indiscernible] >> what we are emphasizing his accountability in violence against women, accountability on addressing impunity with sexual violence, accountability with regard to police and how they act. the justice for her does not end here. it is a reminder that the pain continues. being a woman.

they are demanding that the police do their job, protecting women from rape and violence. but the suspects have fled the country. the wait for justice continues. >> protesting for her, but also themselves. thirstple died of attempting to cross the sahara. the group was made of mainly women and children. they were stranded after vehicle -- their vehicle broke down. it was thought they were migrants trying to reach neighboring algeria. right now, some of the world's top physicists are gathered in geneva, asking if a new type of nuclear fuel is needed. specifically looking at the merits of radioactive soria him. it is more plentiful than uranium and could be considered safer, too.

our environmental analyst has this report. >> the gentle news of southern 600 million years ago from the fire -- of a super volcano. -- from the fire and ash of a super volcano. a guide with the geiger counter shows the walls inside are peppered with a radioactive element. >> soria him, high levels of soria him in this broad -- in these rocks. >> could it be used instead of fuel instead of the volatile cousin, uranium? scientists are trying to find out. tests are going on under this hill. there is a nuclear reactor in the belly of the mountain. it is like a bomb moving. trials by the government here.

the reactorn top of itself. if i look down the hole, i can to the top of the reactor below me. it is turned off now for maintenance, so i'm safe. down there is where the sorium has been detected and so far, experiments are going well. >> tests are being carried out similarly in india, china, and japan. sorium in lots of the world. it has chemical and physical properties that make it is superior over uranium as well. on the waist side, it doesn't generate new long-lived waste. >> there is a potential safety benefit, too. when the synonymy hit the uranium in the fukushima plant two years ago, the reaction spun out of control. scientists say that would not have happened with thorium.

critics say developing thorium will be expensive and could produce clean energy for decades. >> the development is decades in the future. newead, focus on developing -- other technologies like wind. say they-- >> they will continue developing other technologies, but that door he him deserves inspection -- thorium deserves inspection. ofa world aquatics -- products just a click away pull -- a world of products just a click away. today, the united states government announced it is changing airport safety rules to allow passengers to use most electronic devices throughout commercial flights.

the federal aviation administration decision will come as a relief to many frequent flyers, but anything involving an internet connection or data download will still be prohibited under 10,000 feet. here's a report from the airport. >> you can file this one firmly under first world problems. you get onto a plane, settled comfortably in your seat, bring out your tablet, you are checking out some utterly mindless electronic game and then you have to turn it off. the reason being, it is sending out signals that people worry will interfere with the plane's communications. what to do? maybe you would be forced to read a magazine. maybe you might even have to look at a book. worst of all, you might have to look at an old-fashioned newspaper. good news for frequent flyers, the faa says you can dump the magazine, dropped the book, and skip the newspaper. do not even think about looking at the in-flight magazine. now you can keep your ee reader

on all the way through from takeoff to landing. things, one, please listen to the safety announcements, and don't even think about using your mobile phone. it still sends out nasty signals and no one else really cares you are telling your friends the plane is late. u.s. intelligence analyst edward snowden apparently has a new job in russia. his lawyer says he is working technical support for one of russia's biggest private websites. but he did not say which one. he has been in russia since june when he was granted asylum. police say they have obtained video that allegedly shows the mayor of vancouver smoking a crack pipe. it is get to be seen if they will press charges. where do you go if you need to buy a pair of boots or a guitar, or even some wine?

if you are anything like me, the chances are you click on amazon. the site started as an easy way to sell books in 1994. it has become a global retail giant. thanks to the drive and vision of its founder, jeff bezos. amazon has become the everything store. he joined me earlier in san francisco. >> before we get more ammo not -- amazon news today, i want to remind you of how revolutionary it was of an online bookstore in the dark ages of 1994. >> sure, in 1994, no one really knew what the internet would become. but jeff bezos, he was working on wall street at the time and sees the growth rate and decides he wants to start a new business on this new frontier. it was not clear whether it would work out. there were some other online bookstores at the time, but they were small, generally physical shops that had rudimentary website. and within one or two years, the early amazon employees saw the

growth rate and realized they were onto something. >> and he always envisioned, do you suggest, something more than books? >> i think so. he worked with a hedge fund on wall street called e shaw. they saw the internet earlier were brainstorming a lot of ideas, and one of them was and everything store, to have an online intermediary between customers and manufacturers. i think he practically knew he needed to start to look. when the internet took off and there was all of this access to capital during the.com boom, he clearly went for it. boom, hethe dot com went for it. >> give us a picture of what it is like inside this huge corporation? >> people have a lot of different experiences, but generally after talking to a lot of people, it is a tough place to work. the standards that jeff bezos sets for all of his employees,

90,000 now, are incredibly high. they are all supposed to think big and invent. it makes it probably a little bit uncomfortable as a place to work, much like apple under steve jobs. the boss wants to see results. it is also why amazon is so successful today and will be the first retailer to get to $100 billion in sales. he demands the best from everybody. >> from the book, it does not sound like you like jeff bezos very much. >> that is not true. i think you have to respect someone who starts in a garage 19 years ago and built a remarkable company that has changed not just the way we shop, but the way we read. of course, i have criticisms, and i dare -- and i say that against amazon, that it is ruthless in some markets. it has pushed publishers and booksellers into uncomfortable spaces, but that may be the cost

of doing business in a fast internet age. we saw other companies that started doing business with amazon that have not innovated in the same way, like aol, and they are in trouble. i'm not making any judgments, but it really is a remarkable story. >> it is a remark will story. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> tonight, paris closed doors on one of its most popular galleries and the work to demolish it is underway. it is a block of council flats that earlier this year became a canvas for some of the world's greatest street artists. the louvre, the pompidou, the music your say, this is the biggest stage on the paris art scene today, and they are queuing quite literally around the block. but after today, it will be demolished along with its art. there are no complaints, only a few bird impatience to see it before the bulldozers move in.

>> i came here today to check it out. people arrived very early and the queue was very long. there was no chance i would make it, but i started to come at 5:30 a.m. >> it is a condemned nine story block of council flats on the send known as tower 13. ago for ann months exhibition for artists from 18 countries. they were given several months to decorate the empty apartment block inside and out. there has been no conventional advertising. word has spread mostly for -- through conventional media. and for safety reasons, only a limited number are allowed through it at any one time. >> you can go through the work of art. you're not just to see if from a distance. you get inside it, go into the artist skin, see from one world

to another. the artist began work inside the building in march, some of the flats still contained rubble or broken furniture. some tenants were still refusing to move out. the debris, though not the tenants, were incorporated into their work. from -- as fare away as chile and colombia. celebrate their world, such as anti-castro and other things. lex so many have -- >> so many artists have been coming, it is fantastic. it is amazing to see so many new different mixes of styles. >> so tonight, until 8:00 p.m., after that, the work to demolish it will begin. the final street exhibition will this time bring the house down.

click the end of tower 13. a very cool exhibition of art. you can carry on watching bbc world news on our 24-hour news channel. here at world news america, thanks for watching and a happy halloween. >> make sense of international /news.t bbc.com >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, union bank,

>> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.